1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for separating and recovering floating liquid between two liquids which are insoluble in each other, such as between an oil and the water or between an organic solvent and the water. The apparatus separates and recovers the floating liquid utilizing the interaction of the centripetal force of the spiral vortex flow produced by a vortex guide plate and the pumping action of the impeller.
The apparatus of the present invention is capable of efficiently recovering even those viscous floating liquids having high viscosities that are difficult to recover, and which does not permit the liquid collected and stored in a cylinder at the center of the vortex guide plate to scatter again to the surrounding liquid. The apparatus of the invention stores even a film-like floating liquid of very small amounts up to a predetermined amount, and is further capable of operating intermittently. The apparatus of the invention having the above-mentioned characteristics can be used as a very effective means for preventing environmental pollution in natural and industrial fields when it is used to recover oils and organic solvents on the seas, rivers, ponds and lakes, or when it is used in the factories and household applications.
2. Prior Art
A force of inertia called centripetal force (Coriolis' force) is produced in the coordinate system that revolves at a constant speed. This holds true even in a vortex liquid. Heretofore, the floating liquid has been separated and recovered by utilizing the above force as well as the pumping action produced by the impeller by arranging a vortex guide plate that enfolds in the vortex direction of the liquid to further reinforce the centripetal force, by providing a impeller consisting of a disk having a plurality of vanes on the upper surface thereof under the guide plate, and by rotating the impeller in the direction in which the vortex guide plate enfolds.
According to the conventional system utilizing the centripetal force produced by the vortex guide plate and the impeller only, the vortex speed becomes slow due to viscous resistance when the floating liquid to be recovered has a high viscosity, and the centripetal force conspicuously decreases, too. In order to compensate this, the speed of revolution of the impeller should be adjusted since Coriolis' force varies in proportion to the second power of the angular velocity. When a certain speed is exceeded, however, the centrifugal water draining force becomes predominant due to the pumping action of the impeller, inviting such inconvenience that the floating liquid to be recovered is forced back.
According to the prior art, furthermore, when the impeller ceases to rotate, the liquid that was collected and stored in water at the center of the apparatus with much effort tends to float out again and scatters to the surrounding, liquid, since there no longer exists the suction/drain pumping action flowing from the water surface side to the lower side.